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Episode 1398: What MLB Looked Like in London
Date July 1, 2019 Summary In a bonus episode about the London Series, Ben Lindbergh talks to Darius Austin and Russell Eassom, writers and podcasters for the UK baseball site Bat Flips and Nerds, about their experiences at both Yankees-Red Sox games, why they think there was so much scoring, whether that brand of baseball was a good advertisement for the sport, the energy in the crowd, MLB’s outreach to the UK community, what could have been better about the weekend, how they became baseball fans, the growth of the UK fan community, where the game is played in the UK, the hardest part of explaining baseball to non-fans, how they would feel about MLB rotating between juiced and non-juiced balls on a set schedule, and much more. Topics * Review of MLB London Series * Offensive environment at London Olympic Stadium * Crowd energy * Was the series a good advertisement for baseball? * How Darius and Russell became interested in baseball * UK baseball community * MLB outreach in the UK * What could MLB have done better? * How to build off London Series momentum * Playing baseball in the UK * Rotating the type of baseball used in games * Introducing new fans to the game Intro The Magnetic Fields, "Swinging London" Outro T. Red, "London Boys" Email Question * Gavin: "Just listening to Episode 1395 and Dr. Wills’ interview about her work with baseballs and that got me to thinking about how the game would be effected if MLB just went all in on the different ball constructions and decided to intentionally produce the balls differently each season (kind of like the new ball for each FIFA World Cup). Dr. Wills’ identified 15 (or 16) variables in a ball, if MLB manipulated some of those elements to make a more pitcher friendly ball, hitter friendly ball and neutral ball, then debuted it at Spring Training, do you think this would make baseball more, or less, fun? Bonus round: what if they made and played a pitcher ball, hitter ball, neutral ball and then a wild card ball on a four year rotation? Would people be looking forward to the 2022 because it will be a pitcher’s ball again? Or what about that 2025 hitters ball World Series, it was way better than the neutral ball series of 2024?" Notes * The Red Sox and Yankees combined for 50 runs, the most ever in two games between these teams. The combined attendance for the two games was around 59,000. * Russell says that the high offensive environment made the game feel a bit more like an exhibition. * Darius is a Giants fan but says he (like many UK baseball fans) isn't too picky about which games he watches given the difficulties of the time difference. * There are currently 30 teams in the British Baseball League. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1398: What MLB Looked Like in London * Bat Flips & Nerds * How a late-night British MLB show became a cult obsession in the early '00s by Rustin Dodd * Inside a British Baseball Fan Movement by Craig Calcaterra * 'You're going to get a load of nerds' by Anthony Castrovince * Baseball in England by Michael Clair * MLB UK Community Twitter Category:Episodes Category:Guest Episodes